NHRC notice to UP on government hospitals

Lucknow, Sep 22 (IANS) Taking cognisance of media reports, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over “lack of proper medical care facilities” in state government hospitals.

The commission set a month’s deadline for the state government to submit a detailed report on the matter.

Recent media reports highlighted the inconvenience caused to patients and their attendants as illustrated by some recent incidents in different parts of the state.

The relatives of a deceased had to carry the body on a motorcycle in Kasganj district as an ambulance driver demanded a sum of Rs 1,500 for carrying the body. However, later some people came forward and arranged a private ambulance.

NHRC took suo motu cognisance of an incident in the recent past when a 12-year-old boy’s father carried him on his shoulders as there was no stretcher available in Kanpur’s government-run hospital. The boy later died in the hospital.

The Commission has observed that it is the duty of the state to protect the Right to Health of its citizens. The government hospitals are generally approached by the poor people who cannot afford treatment in private hospitals.

In another incident, a young woman was brought to the district hospital in Mirzapur on September 4 and was not attended to by doctors for nearly five hours.

She was then taken to a private hospital which referred her back to the district hospital, where her 70-year-old father-in-law carried her on his shoulders due to unavailability of a stretcher.

Her condition subsequently deteriorated and she was referred to Varanasi on September 6, where she died the next day.